This situation will eventually change. At the Toyota Electric Vehicle Strategy Conference yesterday (June 7), Toyota made clear its electrification rhythm: it will accelerate the plan made two years ago (20 17) by five years, and realize the performance of 5.5 million new energy vehicles in 2025 (originally planned for 2030) five years ahead of schedule. Toyota is really going to exert its strength.
Radical target: 5.5 million vehicles.
Such a radical goal runs counter to Toyota's conservative normality in electric vehicles. What are your plans? Let's look at some specific figures first. These 5.5 million vehicles consist of 4.5 million hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV), 1 10,000 pure electric vehicles (EV) and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (FCEV).
You will understand when you see these two figures, and the focus is on the following 1 10,000 vehicles. Because with Toyota's current production capacity, it is not difficult to realize 4.5 million HEV and PHEV models as long as the production ratio of HEV and PHEV models is continuously increased and the selling price is reasonably controlled (for example, the selling price of Toyota twin-engine models in China is not expensive). Therefore, electric vehicles and FCEV are Toyota's next biggest challenges.
On the one hand, the core factor to accelerate this pace is the continuous maturity of battery technology, which can truly meet the needs of daily mileage, and of course, the upgrading of emission policies in various countries around the world. Toyota also made it clear that the data of 5.5 million vehicles is not an ambitious demand of enterprises, but a reasonable answer to the current policy, and the real challenge is still: can you make an EV model that consumers accept and like?
By 2025, there will be more than 10 EV models in the world.
In terms of EV models, Toyota hopes to divide it into several steps: the launch of pure electric Toyota C-HR and Yize in China next year (2020) is still the first step of the global EV plan, after which Toyota and Lexus brands will launch EV models in Japan, India, the United States and Europe in turn, and by 2025, the global camp of more than 65,438+00 EV models will be realized.
In terms of the layout of EV models, Toyota also gave a clear plan: launch 2-4 ultra-small EV models in Japan, mainly for short-distance travel needs; In fact, this kind of car has many similarities with the current K-CAR model in Japan, and it is not clear whether it is possible to replace some K-CAR markets in the future.
Cooperate with Subaru to develop a new electric vehicle platform e-TNGA.
The second step is to introduce electric vehicles that meet the market demand in China, the United States and other countries. For example, GAC Toyota C-HR and FAW Toyota IOZA will launch pure electric vehicles in 2020. However, the role of these two products should be a pioneer, because Toyota has planned to cooperate with Subaru to develop e-TNGA, a special platform for EV models.
The platform is based on a medium-sized SUV. The front and rear motors, the width of the battery pack and the position of the motor relative to the wheels are fixed, while the wheelbase, the track, the length, width and height of the car body can be flexibly adjusted, which is more flexible than the previous platform concept and even the modular concept. It can realize front drive, rear drive and four-wheel drive. Generally speaking, as long as the body reaches a certain size and can accommodate the whole system, there is no restriction on others.
The third step is to cooperate with BYD, Contemporary Ampere Technology Co., Ltd. and other enterprises in the fields of batteries, motors and electronic control, accelerate the research and development of high-performance and long-life batteries, and establish a battery supply system to meet the rapid growth of electric vehicles. In April this year, Toyota has announced that it will open more than 20,000 patents related to its core electrification technology for free, covering almost the power part of the whole hybrid system, and said that enterprises in need can apply to Toyota and sign contracts after discussing the specific implementation conditions.
Create a more complete and valuable electric vehicle system.
In fact, the current electric vehicles are still not perfect, which I believe everyone knows well. In addition to the long-standing mileage anxiety, there are many problems such as safety, reliability and residual value that can be solved by preferential treatment. In the face of many policy-oriented electric vehicle boom markets, Toyota repeatedly mentioned in the press conference that it should make products that consumers like. I think this is the core value of the new EV plan, which is also Toyota's strength. In terms of batteries, Toyota has battery-related experience of130,000 HEV models, which is valuable experience and will definitely be used in the development of EV models.
Another situation of electric vehicles occurs after purchase. Many users know that the residual value will no longer exist after several years of use, but they still have to solve the current problems, which undoubtedly has a very bad impact on the development of electric vehicles and users' cognition. At present, most enterprises that produce EV models only stay in the production and sales links, without involving more important users or even secondary purchases, which is one of the important reasons why consumers question electric vehicle enterprises. Toyota obviously saw such a problem.
In Toyota's business model, in order to meet the needs of users, it is necessary not only to improve the performance of EV models, but also to improve the dignity of EV models as commodities through measures such as buying/leasing, second-hand EV models service and battery recycling. And corresponding services such as charging and insurance.
Hydrogen fuel cells will continue to flourish.
However, FCEV is indeed a good complement to EV models. For example, in winter, FCEV will be closer to the performance of ordinary fuel vehicles. There is also a foreshadowing: In fact, Toyota brought the hydrogen fuel cell version of Kauste at the 20 19 Shanghai National Auto Show. Based on the deep cooperation between Toyota and the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, will there be a hydrogen fuel cell version of Kauste in the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics? 2025 is not far away, and 2020 and 2022 are just around the corner. Expect Toyota to bring one surprise after another.